Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Italy 2029
Italy's struggling economy
Italy’s GDP per capita has been unstable since 2008, often experiencing slight increases and decreases annually. The third largest economy of the euro area not only suffered from the global financial crisis, they were also one of the primary victims of the euro area crisis. One of the outcomes is the significant growth of Italy’s national debt, which saw continued upsurges every year over the past decade. With the collapse of investments and loss of industrial production, the Italian state was forced to resort to increase taxation and decrease spending. Additionally, Italy was forced to borrow more, which in turn increased national debt and furthermore their debt-to-GDP ratio. A debt-to-GDP ratio is significant to help determine if a country can pay off its debts without incurring more.
Increased taxation and decrease spending helped with reducing expenditures as well as raising revenues, however Italy still maintained a trade balance deficit, which has only recently< started to recover. Several reasons for Italy’s downturn as a country are unnecessary spending and incompetent leadership.